It is known to outfit automotive interiors with various trim components to enhance the aesthetic appearance of the automotive interior and to provide comfort and convenience to vehicle occupants. For example, automotive interiors are typically provided with door trim panels, instrument panels and console cover panels. The instrument panel is provided in a portion of the passenger compartment, at a position forward of the vehicle occupants and disposed laterally between the door panels. Typically, automotive manufacturers strive to provide a clearance between the ends of the instrument panel and the adjacent door panels to avoid interference between these components and thereby facilitate easy closing of the automobile doors. The smallest gap between the instrument panel and an adjacent door panel has been about 5 mm. While these gaps avoid interference due to the cumulative effect of tolerance variations in the assembled components in the automobile, they also detract from the aesthetic appearance of the trim components. A need therefore exists for an automotive instrument panel which eliminates the gap between the instrument panel and an adjacent door panel to further improve the aesthetic appearance of the interior trim.